Asha Meeting

5/5/2007

Venue: Ashwini and Arun's place

1. Asha Deepa School for the Blind (http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=616) - Arvind Rao

Arvind Rao presented an update on Asha Deepa School for Blind in Bidar, Karnataka based on the conference call held
with the school last week. The minutes of the conf call can be found on the project website:

http://www.ashanet.org/projects/document-view.php?id=5654

- One of the issues that was raised during the meeting was to understand the salary requirements in and around Bidar
and to see if a raise is required for all working.

2. Nandlal Fellowship (http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=707) - Gaurav

Proposal to raise the salary from Rs.10,000 to Rs. 12,000 per month primarily due to his increase in requirements due to added family responsibilities.

Before taking a vote on this a few questions were asked for follow up:
a) Gaurav to talk to Sanjeev to know the requirements of Fellowship, and get an understanding of how we evaluate a fellow every year.
b) Get an understanding of the living expenses around Varanasi. This will help us understand of how much we are paying relative to other cities/towns.

3. Project Freedom (http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=591) - background by Santhosh

- Santhosh gave a background of Sidamma and Project Freedom, and then went through the Q&A from the previous meeting.

The details of the Q&A will be uploaded separately on the project website.

Some of the follow-up questions were:
- Any counseling was done to bonded laborers who have escaped?
- Does Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) have a cast base?

- We decided to take a vote on the budget as we were comfortable with the questions answered. The Budget has been approved for Rs 2,35,120 for recurring expenses. The amount was unanimously approved with 1 - Abstain.

- A new budget for recurring expenses will be discussed separately.